The official schedule release isn’t until later on Tuesday — so if you want to know when Toronto plays Minnesota you’ll have to wait — but some of the marque games are leaking out.

Like when Carmelo Anthony returns to the Pepsi Center in Denver. It isn’t exactly LeBron returning to Cleveland, but it’s not going to be the return of the prodigal son, either. There will be some venom.

According to a person debriefed on the Knicks’ 2011-12 schedule, the club embarks on a West Coast trip in November and will play a snazzy, nationally televised back-to-back, facing the Nuggets Nov. 16 on ESPN and the Lakers at Staples Center Nov. 17 on TNT’s Thursday night showcase.

If this NBA labor situation goes down like 1999, when the season was reduced to a condensed 50-game schedule plus playoffs, long road trips planned for early in the schedule are the kind of things cut out. Like this planned Knicks West Coast swing.